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After having retired from teaching, Pierre and I bought Château de Détilly in the Loire Valley, France. It was a hectic time for everyone, and not really the best time to buy property. In, October 2019 we did a lot of what I referred to as 'château shopping'. What an eye-opener that was! The châteaux had seen their best days, in a lot of cases, centuries ago, and had been left to crumble. Then we came across Château de Détilly which we knew from the start would one day be ours. We bought Détilly in February 2020, just when Covid-19 broke out so bank loans etc were delayed by two months and we were in confinement at our house near Paris. On July 1st, 2020, Pierre and I moved into our new (well, extremely old) abode with books and furniture stored in various parts of France. On July 23rd we started our bed and breakfast business and thought we'd done quite well considering Covid had prevented a lot of people from travelling. Nevertheless, it gave us time to repair the stone wall that had begun to collapse, have the pool restored as well as the electricity and some pipes. Luckily for us, the roof was in good shape, thanks to (we think) Alain Demachy who had also designed much of the interior. The floors in the grand salon and dining room are striking and the breakfast room is stunning.

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